Richard Whalley will be performing the world premiere of his new piano piece, Kinderszenen on 8th August 2017 in l’Eglise Saint-Pierre-ès-Liens at Cissé, in the Poitou region of France. This performance forms part of the Concerts en nos Villages series, which runs alongside the ARAM-Poitou Summer Academy in late July / early August. He will also be performing works by Schubert, Beethoven, Fauré, George Crumb and Morton Feldman during this concert series, and teaching on the Composition Masterclass alongside Peter Swinnen from 5th-12th August at ARAM-Poitou.

“This set of piano pieces was composed for my friend, Yve Poprawski, who runs a dance school in Bad Kreuznach, Germany. They are conceived to be danced to, either individually or as a set; they may also be performed as a solo piano work. Most of the dancers in Yve’s dance school are children, so these pieces are inspired by the ideas and fantasies of my own children, Oscar and Ariana, aged 7 and 5 at the time of writing. Indeed, many of the titles of the movements here were made up by my children, and carry with them direct associations, some of which are depicted in the music. Children love to move, so this composition is also an exploration of different types of movement, tempo and metre, designed to elicit a desire to move, or dance,” says Richard.

Have a look at the score below, or visit Richard’s beautiful new website for more!